Forever
by archergwen
Summary: It was a terrible curse, and he had been powerless to stop it... Ladyhawke meets Labyrinth
1. Always Together, Forever Apart

It was a cruel curse.  
And he had been powerless to stop it.

_She was sixteen when he dared to knock on her window.  
She opened the window, book in hand, and knocked him off the still. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"  
"I'm sorry."  
"I defeated you! I won! You have no power over me! Toby is-wait, what?"  
"I'm sorry. So sorry. It took me so long to say it. I'm sorry."  
She stood there silently, book held in midair._

He sat staring at the golden cage.  
"A gilded cage is still a cage," he whispered softly, sticking his fingers through the bars to stroke the soft feathers. The owl watched him with golden eyes. She fluffed herself lightly.  
"I'm sorry. Again."

_On her eighteenth birthday, he sent her small crystal balls made into earrings. She hesitantly wore them at first until she realized that he couldn't watch her through them.  
He promised.  
He told the truth._

Every night, the raven haired beauty descended the staircase of the crystal ballroom to dance. She whirled about the floor, dance partner to dance partner, a ghost of herself.  
He remembered everything, of course, even if she didn't.  
She was the belle of the ball. But she was always looking for something.  
Him.

_He began to visit her occasionally, tagging along with Hoggle and Sir Didymus but often leaving before they did.  
They were on good terms, all of them, but he didn't want to press his luck with her.  
_  
Every inch of his being longed to leap from his place in the shadows and dance with her. But he had tried that before.  
He had found that wolves could not dance. She had known him though. She had not been afraid.  
Those who did not know of the curse avoided him, casting wary glances at his fangs and dark fur.  
Those who did know also avoided him. There was nothing they could do.  
_  
He should have known there would be those that would not take kindly to his courting of a mortal, those that had forgotten they'd all been mortal once too...  
He should have never burned those bridges...  
He should never have let down his guard...  
_  
There was that one, torturous moment between night and day. The instant before sunlight covered them, she knew who she was, who he was.  
And they were human, and together.  
But there was only time for one word, one single word, and then she would be bound, trapped as an owl in a gilded cage.  
And the moment before nightlight released her and bound him was the same.  
_  
They were sitting along on a quiet park bench Aboveground when one of his enemies appeared.  
"You want to defy everything?" shrieked the angry immortal. "Be my guest! But you shall do so alone!"  
And he cursed them.  
Always together. Always apart.  
_  
There was no moon in the Undergound. And the moon, an old symbol of irrationality (and thus, in a way, love), was one way to break the curse, said one old scholar. Moonlight should change her into human, since it was a nightlight, and should change him human, since it was also a reflection of the sun.  
Another claimed that they must find a place where the shadows are just right, so he can become human while she is and proclaim his everlasting love to her.  
He knew that she held the key to breaking the curse. It was given it to her that day in the Labyrinth when she refused him.  
Refuse one immortal, break one's power, and then none have power over you.  
But like everything in his Kingdom, one has to say the right words.

_If only she could remember the words..._

A cage formed itself around her every day. Otherwise, they would've flown to Aboveground and waited for moonlight a long time ago.  
"At least this way," he mused to himself one day as she preened, "she has become immortal."


	2. Far Longer Than Forever

Jareth stroked Sarah's feathers through the cage. "How I wish we could fly together, my bird. And that we could dream together. And that when you see me tonight, a wolf, you will remember every word of love I have ever whispered to you."  
_  
"Oh, my Sarah," he murmured into her ear, hanging half over the park bench, half over her shoulder.  
"Jareth!" she squeaked as she jumped a little with shock. "You scared me!"  
"I'm sorry."  
She chuckled to herself. Reaching around, she grabbed a hold of his collar and pulled him around the bench. He plopped down beside her. "That is almost your theme, Jareth dear."  
"Is that bad?" he asked, half-teasing.  
_  
Sarah sat sadly in a corner of the ballroom. Scattered, fuzzy memories of a golden cage were haunting her and she could not dance. She knew she became an owl during the day, but she remembered nothing from the day.  
She sat quietly in a corner and stroked a mass of black fur, a wolf, who she thought she knew.  
He turned his mismatched eyes up at her and something clicked.  
"You love me, don't you? And I think I love you."  
_  
"Not at all." She smiled. "But you can relax; love keeps no record of wrongs."  
He sat up. "Oh?"  
She merely smiled and turned away slightly, coyly.  
He gently drew a finger down her arm. With his other hand, he reached for her face and turned it towards him. "I love you, Sarah Williams. With all my eternal heart."  
"Good," she said, eyes beginning to waver. "Because I'm pretty sure I love you back."  
_  
He was twisted, tormented during the day. His once-beloved labyrinth was practically running itself, held in the capable hands of Hoggle and Sir Didymus.  
He had tried to manage it when the curse was still fresh, letting Ludo watch over Sarah.  
But he had found his mind ever wandering, ever distracted, that he simply gave up and paced his room all day, watched by the golden eyes of an owl and the peeking globes of goblins.  
_  
"Only 'pretty sure,' Sarah?"  
"Well," she said, giving in. "I thought I might as well make you work for it."  
Jareth grinned his cat-like grin and drew her closer.  
_  
Not like his kingdom mattered without her.  
He suddenly, and for the first time in a long time, flew into a rage. He began seizing random object and throwing them about the room.  
China smashed against walls, pillows ripped in half, blankets ripped from his bed (that he never used anyway).  
His tirade ended just as abruptly as it started when a book clanged into her cage and it tumbled off his desk.  
_  
Her lips were inches, seconds from his...  
_  
"Sarah!"  
Her cage clattered to the floor and she let out a screech, fluttering in the cage as best she could to stay upright and not get battered as it rolled about.  
He raced forward and stopped it's motion.  
Jareth lifted it carefully from the ground as she angrily screamed at him.  
Placing her cage back on his desk, he changed into an owl and flew away, out his window and into the Labyrinth.  
_  
He tilted his head and...  
_  
Jareth landed in the maze of hedges and instantly began ripping at them in rage.  
Anger at himself, anger at the curse, and anger at himself.  
He noticed the Labyrinth shifting around him. 'Probably shifting me back to the castle,' he thought. 'Back to Sarah.'  
A voice startled him.  
"You've broken a promise, Goblin King."  
_  
Dreams, wishes, unfulfilled. And all because Ravac, an immortal, a Fae if you will, Jareth had thought he could trust.  
Always together, forever apart. An owl for the day and a wolf for the night.  
Deep magic is powerful.  
_  
"What?" Jareth whirled around to find himself facing the Wiseman and his Hat.  
"You've broken a promise. Very serious crime, that one."  
"I have not!" stuttered the Goblin King.  
The Wiseman huffed. "Sometimes, the way forward is also the way back."  
"Oh really?" Jareth half-snarled.  
"Sometimes, it may seem like we're getting nowhere, when in fact, we-"  
The Hat woke up at this point and cut in. "Are."  
"You've said all this already! I heard you tell Sarah the same advice years ago! Have you anything new? Anything relevent?" It was then the dragon attacked, raking its claws over where Jareth stood and screeching as it shot upwards again. "What the- Wiseman!" The Wiseman and his Hat lay in a heap on the ground. "Wiseman?"  
A hand shot up from the tangle of rags. "It's not what it seems, Jareth! It's not what it seems!" And then the hand fell.  
Jareth bowed his head for a moment, but the dragon's scream broke his silence. The fiend was attacking his castle right where his room, and Sarah, should be.  
"Sarah..." and the Goblin King took to the skies.  
_  
"I promise you, Sarah, I will never stop trying to break this curse. I will never rest until you and I are free. Until I can show you what I mean when I say I love you."  
When had he given up? When had he stopped?  
_  
The Hat spoke first. "Do you think he finally got the message?"  
"Perhaps not the way we intended it to go," said the Wiseman as he stood up, unharmed, and settled back down in his chair. "But I think he finally understood."


	3. It's Only Forever

Jareth rocketed through the air. He let out a screech, which startled the dragon slightly, giving Jareth enough room to slip into his chambers.  
He rolled across the floor, becoming human, and instantly placed a barrier about the tower, a shield from anything the dragon could do.  
He paced the room, fingers moving constantly to keep the shield up.  
Glancing at the owl, he began to think aloud. "This is no real dragon. Too clean, too perfect. At the age it looks, it should be covered in scratches and burns from fights. Besides, there are no dragons in the Underground. None in their right mind would come here. This is a spell." He glanced back at the owl. "It's Ravac's. I'd stake my life on it."  
"That is precisely what you may have to do, Your Majesty."  
"Sir Didymus!"  
The little fox waddled in. "Yes, it is I. I could not sit around while our King's tower was attacked by a strange beast. Your Majesty must take Sarah and find a way to Aboveground. You must break the spell. I will defend your castle. Ambrosis and I-" the knight suddenly became aware that his noble steed was no where to be found. "Well. Break the curse, King Jareth."  
The Goblin King grabbed a hold of Sarah's cage. "I will."  
"Godspeed, sire," Sir Didymus called after Jareth as he raced away. "Now, what to do about that dragon." Jareth chose that moment to expand the shield, sending the dragon flying backwards over the Goblin City. "Hmph," began the fox. "That was easier than expected." And he set off to find Ambrosis.

Meanwhile, Jareth was doing his best to move quickly while not disturbing Sarah.  
He was almost out of the castle when a voice stopped him.  
"Where you going?"  
"Aboveground, Hogwart."  
"It's Hoggle! And I woulda thought you'd be heading to the Escher Room. Isn't that where Sarah left through last time?"  
Jareth paused. "Sometimes the way forward is also the way back." He grinned. "Thank you. Hoggle." And he tore off for the Escher Room.

Darting past mobs of goblins scrambling to protect their home, he didn't notice the fading sunlight.  
Gently, the grasp of golden metal in his hand became a soft collection of fingers.  
He turned to look back at her.  
Jareth met Sarah's beautifully human eyes for one torturous moment. "Escher-"

She was grasping the paw of a black wolf who looked at her with sad eyes.  
"Where am I?"  
The wolf shrugged.  
"Where are we going? Oh, the ballroom." The wolf growled. "Ok... Does it have to do with Escher? Oh, I hate not remembering anything!" The dragon shrieked from outside. "I remember the dragon...flying...falling...Aboveground...we're going to the Escher room! Come on, Jareth!"  
Gathering her silver white ballgown, she raced away, unsure of where the name came from.

The wolf loped beside her, happy she knew him.

Worlds away (literally) a man watched his creation fail.  
He cursed aloud. Drawing on Deep Magic, he hastened the turning of the Underground night as the wolf and girl entered the Escher room...

"What are we supposed to do now?" Her mind had been clearing from its eternal fog, but now it was closing back in. "Dance? No, that's wrong. We have to-" The wolf suddenly pushed her into a corner. "No! Stop! I can remember! I promi-"  
"Sarah," Jareth shushed her, holding a finger to her lips in the shadows as he stood in the sun. "Sarah, I love y-"  
The dragon rammed into the tower, shaking the room and she fell into the light, immediately becoming an owl.  
He yelled out in agony. "Ravac! I will kill you!" Eyes glittering, teeth clenched, grasping the top of her cage, he muttered, "I wish there was a staircase to Aboveground."  
And there was.

The park they had been separated so long ago looked relatively the same. The trees were older. The benches were different. But it's heart was the same.  
Jareth emerged from the roots of a tree into some of the darkest shadows. But the glimmer of moonlight beckoned to him from beyond the shadows and he stepped forward-  
Only to have a barrier throw him back into the shadows.  
"Ravac."  
The tall and slender man revealed himself. He, like Jareth, was an immortal and adept in great magics.  
"You shall go no further, Jareth. I have been generous up until now. But it is time to let the mortal go."  
"Never," spat Jareth.  
"She is only a mortal. Give her up!"  
"No," said Jareth, softly and smiling. "She is not a mortal. She beat me, she defied me, Ravac. She had great power already. And then you touched her with Deep Magic. You changed her to life with magic beyond her normal life. Her brother's children are nearly grown. Yet every night she remains the same. Just as we remain the same through the eons. You wield Deep Magic, Ravac. But you fail to comprehend that there is Deeper Magic, from beyond the dawn of time that we cannot change, but we must bow to."  
Ravac growled. "Damn you, Jareth. Damn your Sarah. And damn your Deeper Magic."  
There was a thunderclap, though there was no cloud in the sky.  
And Ravac's barrier crumbled. Though he tried to conjure a new one, Ravac found he could do nothing.  
"Your words reveal what is in your heart," Jareth gently said, kneeling beside Sarah's cage. And in one swift movement, he ripped the top of the cage away, setting her free.  
She shot into the air. For one moment, the owl was silhouetted against the moon. And then with a soft "pop," she floated to the ground in a soft white dress, surrounded by feathers.  
Jareth gave a shudder and walked forward into the light, leaving a trail of black fur. "Ravac," he whispered, reaching into his cloak.  
"Yes?"  
Jareth whipped out a sword and plunged it deep into Ravac's heart. "You have no power over me."  
And the Fae turned to dust.

He stood there, breathing heavily, staring at the pile that had once been Ravac.  
"Jareth?"  
He turned at the sound of a voice he had not heard in a long time. It was the same, but there was an agelessness to it now.  
"Sarah."  
She smiled.  
He kissed her.


	4. Epilogue

They stood on a battlement overlooking the Labyrinth.  
With a smile, she turned away and transformed into an owl. She flew to the tallest tower and alighted on the roof. Carefully, she became a human.  
He followed her and came to rest by her side.  
"All this is yours," she said softly.  
"Ours now," he said tapping the golden ring on her finger.  
She grinned at this and gave him a kiss.  
With a wicked smile, he let himself fall from the roof. Laughing crazily, he managed to shout once: "My lady loves me!" before becoming an owl and catching an updraft.  
She dove after him. "My lord loves me!"  
The two owls danced madly in the sky before night fell and the Underground's new moon rose.


End file.
